My idea of a good time, as you may have gathered, is immersing myself in the kind of stuff that would cure most insomniacs... Specifically, economic history and theory...As I travel back through the days of Milton Friedman, F.A. Hayek, J. Maynard Keynes, Karl Marx and Adam Smith, I realize that, when it comes to economics, there are two distinct schools of thought; one advances the notion that the economy cannot effectively function without the helping hand of government (ala Keynes and, at the extreme, Marx), the other says the economy is best served in the hands of the private sector, leaving the individual free to pursue his own separate interests (ala Smith, Hayek and Friedman)...
Would you agree that the latter, whether or not you view it as the path to macroeconomic success, is simply human nature - that whether we're pizza chefs or politicians*, each of us, in our own way, will always pursue our own separate interests? And is it not in the pizza purveyor's self-interest to provide his customer with the absolute best pie he can profitably produce? It is if he hopes for repeat business... And is not the pizza purveyor's profitability in the self-interest of the pizza lover? It is if he hopes for repeat pizza...
(*we
my dear friend, how can you not quote marx,lenin, castro or chavez. at least get a couple of words from groucho and John. it is class envy that always gets the crowd warmed up. even hitler used the same in order to teach the entire polulation a new way to waive hello.
ReplyDeleteI have heard that Microsoft never spent a dime on lobbying before it was shook down, and now it spends of 100 million a year. not sure if I heard it right, but that hits a bit on Milt's number 4. ( the politicians self-interest of that of somebody elses)
Great point, but I think it hits Smith's point more than Milt's... and, as I suggested in the blog, that did come to mind... I'll be coming back to that next week... As a teaser - ask yourself again if politicians are indeed acting in their own best interests (think mid-terms and growing public awareness relative to debt/deficits)... As for Microsoft, don't know for how many years it's been spending the $100 mill... But looking at their results, maybe they should go back to the old days - I think they had a better perspective on what was in their own best interest back then...
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